The top 10 video games – so far – of 2010 | Macon Telegraph

The summer gaming season is coming to a close, and we are only about a month away from the holiday release schedule.

The best games are normally reserved for holiday release, although gaming companies are still releasing high-profile games throughout the year. So far, plenty of noteworthy games have already come out this year. I’ve put together my top 10 games (so far) of 2010 to highlight the great games released this year and others that will likely be lost in the shuffle this fall.

10. “Deathspank”: The creator of “Monkey Island” brought one of the top downloadable games of the year. “Deathspank” is a comedy, adventure and action game rolled into a role-playing game wrapper.

9. “Alan Wake”: The game was more noteworthy for its cinematic feel than its gameplay. It’s a technical masterpiece, but it has very low replay value.

8. “Split/Second” and “Blur”: It’s hard to separate these two “Mario Kart”-on-adrenaline racing games. Both added a new element to racing games and provided immense fun.

7. “BioShock 2”: I don’t think it was as good as the original, but “BioShock 2” was still an outstanding game that brought multiplayer fun to the series.

6. “Just Cause 2”: One of those games that speeds past the original, “Just Cause 2” took an amusing concept and fleshed it out into a massive sandbox adventure game set on a chaotic island nation.

5. “Battlefield Bad Company 2”: Another game that is better than its predecessor, “Bad Company 2” has a strong story mode. But its multiplayer is almost on par with the “Modern Warfare” series.

4. “Splinter Cell Conviction”: Sam Fisher’s best game in my opinion is this stealth espionage thriller set mostly in Washington, D.C. The pacing is great for an action game, and it just plays fun.

3. “God of War III”: The final game in the original trilogy might not be the best overall, but its graphics, visuals and epic scope are greatly enhanced by the PlayStation 3’s HD capabilities.

2. “Limbo”: “Limbo” is the best downloadable game released through Xbox Live. It’s a dark and bleak game, with a boy trudging through a barren landscape with pitfalls and perils lurking around every turn.

1. “Red Dead Redemption”: “Rolling Stone” proclaimed this game the best movie of the year, which is enormous praise for it and gaming in general. Even though that’s a hyperbole, the idea that anyone would say that about a game would have been incomprehensible 10 years ago. “Red Dead Redemption” is an epic game of the highest standard, producing near perfect marks in gameplay, storyline, graphics and sound.